Correlation between the quality of one's translation and ProZ.com membership

Thread poster: xxxsavaria

xxxsavariaHungary Local time: 15:59 English to Hungarian + ...

Jul 24, 2008

Is anyone automaticly a better translator than a non-member only because he/she is a member of ProZ.com?
Certainly not.
So I do not see any point in opening any projects as member-only.I wonder how you think about this issue.I am dead angry when I see X project is members-only until...I think it is very much unfair with non-members.At least as long as membership is only question of money,and even a farmer or a priest can join,if he/she has the money for it...

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Gábor Széles wrote:
At least as long as membership is only question of money,and even a farmer or a priest can join,if he/she has the money for it...

By the same token, anyone, including farmers and priests, can view jobs which are NOT marked "members only." Why not limit your job posts to those who are members of a professional translation association/website? Your logic eludes me.

To put it another way, if you don't mind wasting time on quotes from the Joe Shmoes of the world, post a non-members-only job. If you want translators who don't mind investing in membership, post a members-only job.

[Edited at 2008-07-25 14:55]

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I believe this FAQ addresses the issue. Non-paying members have access to many free services offered on the site. The fees of paying members are what make this endeavor possible, however, aside from the fact that membership is a sound professional investment.

Best regards,

Jared

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xxxwonitaChina Local time: 11:59

Who is to blame?

Jul 25, 2008

The outsourcers restrict their jobs to members, regardless of how translators think.

Try to forward your argument to the outsourcers, after you can view their contact info. Maybe they will consider you for the next job...

Much luck
Bin

[Edited at 2008-07-25 15:05]

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Of course, paid membership doesn't make one a better translator. However it shows to an outsourcer that the service provided is not just a wondering farmer or priest, but a person who has invested in his business.

Besides, running this Site cost money- lots of money - and it is members who are financing this Site for you. In return paying members have advantage on quoting on jobs. Does it seem unfair to you?

Uldis

Gábor Széles wrote:

Is anyone automaticly a better translator than a non-member only because he/she is a member of ProZ.com?
Certainly not.
So I do not see any point in opening any projects as member-only.I wonder how you think about this issue.I am dead angry when I see X project is members-only until...I think it is very much unfair with non-members.At least as long as membership is only question of money,and even a farmer or a priest can join,if he/she has the money for it...

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I certainly agree with you that being a paid member does not equal being a good translator (just like NOT being a paid member does not equal being a bad translator), and I rarely support Proz's -in my opinion- usually harebrained ideas/proposals/announcements (ask anyone!).

BUT in this particular case, I think that many times outsourcers choose to filter between members and users in order to avoid the usual onslaught of bids that arise whenever a job is posted (3000+ vs. 150 potential bidders in your pair) and it seems reasonable to me that they should be given this option... just like it seems reasonable to me that paying members would have some advantage over non-paying members for financing this site.

Greetings
Andrea

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Gábor Széles wrote:
I think it is very much unfair with non-members. At least as long as membership is only question of money,and even a farmer or a priest can join,if he/she has the money for it...

Uldis Liepkalns wrote:
Besides, running this Site cost money- lots of money - and it is members who are financing this Site for you. In return paying members have advantage on quoting on jobs. Does it seem unfair to you?

I entirely and completely agree!

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I am a non-paying member since the beginning of my registration to Proz.com dating back many years now, and I agree that paying members should deserve more benefits, if not all, than non-paying members. I never bid for jobs here, nor I did reply to Kudoz questions. In a sense, from many Proz.com paying members' point of view I am a kind of parasite.

However I find that offering outsourcers the possibility to accept bids from paying members only can be misleading, as they might be led to believe that non-paying members are less qualified. In other words, what particular benefit do outsourcers get with this option? If everybody agrees that the only fact of paying 120 USD per year doesn't make a translator better, isn't it true that outsourcers are potentially prevented from selecting good non-paying translators?

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Limiting the number of potencial bidders and thus reducing the onslaught of mails/bids their are sure to get with each posting, perhaps... (more so in the most crowded pairs)

Greetings

Well, it wouldn't be bad if Proz.com stated that this is the very reason for allowing outsourcers not to select non-paying members, particularly with less crowded language pairs. Or, at least, to remove this option from the form altogether and presenting only, say, the first 10 or 20 bidders which would come up for whatever reason Proz.com deems fit.

Mario Cerutti

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For the record, though, I'm not saying that THAT is the reason why Proz allows outsources to post "members only" jobs. I don't work for Proz so I don't have that kind of info... I'm just saying that it might be one of the benefits for outsourcers (thus the "perhaps").

Greetings

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Is anyone automaticly a better translator than a non-member only because he/she is a member of ProZ.com?
Certainly not.

It all depends on how you see it.

From the point of view of members, it is nice to have more benefits than non-members because that's what you are paying for.

From the point of view of non-members, it is quite disappointing to have access to so little features (I was once a non-paying member), although you feel and know in many cases that you are as good a translator as those paying members, only that you don't have the money to spend on this.

From the point of view of outsourcers, I bet the majority of them does not know (or is not interested in knowing) that what makes the difference between a member and a non-member are USD 120 and not the qualifications/experience they might have. If I were a company not very well informed about this 'translation world', I would certainly go for a Pro Member. The name would look very nice to me and it appears that these are better translators than the others, which can be quite misleading. I personally know a couple translators who are paying members and whose work is a nightmare.

Sounds discouraging but it's true. I wish there would be another way in which only proven, very good translators could be members and mediocre translators just free participants of this community, but I guess this is extremely hard to verify, don't you think so?

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Correlation between the quality of one's translation and ProZ.com membership

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